Issues/crisis management are very important in the digital age Discuss the ways in which social media immediacy can create challenges and opportunities for communications professionals Drawing on recent examples explain what best practice looks like

The stakeholders must be assured too that the company is able to handle its issues within the shortest time possible. That will encourage them to boost their investments and endorse the company to others willing to engage in similar activities. This report will examine the impact that social media crisis has on a company and look for different ways of turning around the crisis into an opportunity that plays into the best practices within the society.The current uptake of digital technology has become part of a talk that has made many companies wonder how to relate to their clients. With more than one billion people using Facebook, and more than 400 million tweets shared, the strength of digital media is rife everywhere in the world. The whole world is aware that sharing of information and consumption rates have all gone up, and crises are bound to occur. It has been noted that on average, it takes 21 hours before a company can present a meaningful response to deal with a crisis. In close to 18%, companies took more than 48 hours. This shows that companies may be losing out because most of the crises spread within an hour and could reach an average of 11 countries within the first 24 hours. Such figures are quite disturbing especially given the fact that use of social media has reached new heights over the past decade.Communication professionals understand that new platforms of disseminating information have arisen from these new means of communication, creating new ways of disseminating content, fostering engagement and creating better understanding of the needs of their targeted audience as they build new relationships. The use of social media has been seen as an essential communication tools since it has dissolved most traditional boundaries present in previous interactions. In any case, the use of social media has had a positive influence in creating a closer proximity between a host of brands and